Ch. 3
A Rock and a Hard place
The Dojok woods were peaceful and verdant. Not thick and choking like the jungle in Lahtenda Bog, nor sparse and marshy like the Zehlon Reach. Green grass blanketed the woodland floor, while shrubs and ferns adorned the roots of the great trees. The small band of four exited the gate to Champions, heading west through the forest. No one spoke as Rakiv led the way forward, with Kydar keeping pace as he rummaged through his bag.
"Alright, now listen," the ranger turned to Kydar, "I don't want you getting hurt or anything before Kormir gets to talk to you. So when trouble starts, I want you to keep your head down and get back from the…"
The scribe interrupted by raising a finger to his lips and hissing a quick 'shh'. The ranger was taken aback, blinking before frowning indignantly.
"Did you just…?" she began.
"Shh!" he insisted, glaring at her for silence.
Rakiv's eyes narrowed at the much taller man as his hazel gaze roved the woods. It was only then that she noticed his fingertip had begun to smoulder, waves of heat rising from it. She looked up at him curiously, before he suddenly whirled around. A wave of his arm summoned a rush of heat to his palm, the energy forming into a softball sized orb of flame. With a quick thrust of his hand he expeled the burning orb, sending it blazing into the underbrush where it exploded. A very human grunt came from the ferns as a corsair cutthroat was knocked from his hiding place. The ranger's eyes widened, and she immediately notched an arrow to her bow.
"Ambush!" she shouted, as the pirates sprang from hiding.
There were six of them, two cutthroats, a raider, a medic, a blackhand and their captain. Alendra jumped forward, raising her shield just as the raider let loose with a volley. The arrows bounced harmlessly off her shield, and the paragon charged forward to engage the two cutthroats.
"The medic!" Rakiv called, as the two elementalists turned on the target.
The pirate healer stood little chance, as three projectiles converged on him at once, an ice spear, a flare and a barbed arrow. With the medic down, the corsair crew went down quickly, fighting bitterly, but ultimately futily. By the time it was over, Rakiv had lost only three arrows, and the group convened in the middle of the scene to survey their position.
"I think that's all of them…" Anicara stated.
"Could you have mentioned you were an elementalist sooner?" Rakiv snapped at Kydar.
"No one ever asked," he blinked, retrieving a red jem from his bag and pressing it to his forehead, "I didn't think it mattered."
"I'm just surprised he heard that pirate before you did," Alendra commented, as she kicked over a body and quickly siezed the pirate's purse.
Rakiv gave a grunt of acknowledgement and agreement. It was odd that they'd snuck up so well, this scribe was sharper than she'd given him credit for.
"Oh look," Anicara said with a slow smile, "One still lives."
The heavily injured corsair blackhand was desperately attempting to crawl away, leaving a trail of blood across the grass. With a rush of frost the female elementalist summoned a spear of ice to her hand as she strode towards the man and raised her weapon.
"Wait!" Kydar cautioned, pushing past her and kneeling over the corsair. Flipping the man over the scribe caught him by his coat lapels and lifted him from the ground, "We need to know some things," he said, "And you're going to talk."
"I… huck… got nothin' ta say t' you… land lubber," the pirate croaked.
The answer brought a frown to Kydar's face, his brow furrowing as his eyes began to glow red. The pirate screamed, grabbing the scribe's arms and struggling weakly in his grasp. Alendra winced as she watched the skin on the man's forehead bubble and burn, turning into two charred black welts, before Kydar's gaze returned to normal.
"My way is slow," the scribe cautioned venomously, "Her way is quick. You talk to me, I let her end you. You keep playing with me," his eyes began to glow again, "And it will take Grenth himself to pry you from my grasp."
"A-alright!" the corsair gasped, eyes shut against the pain.
"Why now? Why this raid?" Kydar demanded, "The navy hasn't encountered a corsair ship in months!"
"Need food… supplies.. gold," the raider responded, and then gave a spiteful chuckle, "And the women aren't too bad either."
The comment earned the raider another hideous burn from Kydar's glowing gaze, leaving a charred black mound on the raider's shoulder.
"I don't know!" the corsair shrieked, weeping through his pain, "The cap'n's had a meetin'. Decided it was time we showed these Sunspears a thing or two. It was supposed t' be easy. Get in, get loot, get back t' sea."
"You expect me to believe that an attack this big, this coordinated was all just for loot!?" Kydar snapped, and gave the man a rough shake, "Huh!? Answer me!"
But the pirate was lost to hysterics, weeping pitifully and shaking his head. Realizing there was nothing more he could gain from the corsair, Kydar dropped him roughly and rose to his feet.
"Kill him," the scribe ordered.
As Kydar turned away Anicara knelt next to the corsair, dispelling her spear and reaching for him. The pirate weakly tried to struggle away but the elementalist simply pressed two fingers to his chest.
"Shhh…" she urged, her fingertips glowing a soft green as the mystic poision flowed into his heart.
The pirate's shivers and convulsions stopped, his pleading dying on his lips as he slowly and calmly drifted off. His limbs quieted and his eyes closed as his heart beat its last, and finally stopped. Rakiv placed a hand on Alendra's shoulder, the paragon jumping at the contact. Throughout the interrogation the Castellan had borne an expression of shock on her face. She had long since learned to slay her foes in battle, but this… this had been too personal. Had she been in the presence of a ranking officer she likely would have been reprimanded for her softness. Instead Rakiv simply gave the young woman a light push forward.
"Move out," she commanded as the party regrouped.
Alendra cleared her throat and shouldered her spear, resuming their march through the woods as Anicara followed. Rakiv glanced at the talls scribe as he adjusted his gloves and reached for a holster on his right thigh, retrieving a long wand that glowed red at one end. He looked up, returning her gaze for a short moment, before turning away to follow the girls. Rakiv clicked her tongue critically; an interesting group she had here. The scribe was proving to be full of all sorts of surprises, not the least of which were his interrogation methods. Propping her bow over one shoulder the ranger fell in, following the group as they made their way towards the cliffs.
The Cliffs of Dojok had once been a great seawall, carved away by centuries of waves and wind. Since the construction of the port at Kamadan, and the mighty sandbar that created its calm waters, the tides here had receeded, leaving a white sand beach at the base of the cliffs. It was here that the Istani had founded their quarry, chipping away at the cliffs for the stones they required to build their monuments. The forests at the top of the cliffs however, had long been the ancenstral homes of creatures and monsters that stalked the Istani highlands.
Most deadly among those that dwelt in Dojok were the Skree, a primitive tribe of semi-intelligent winged warriors, who fiercely attacked anything that dared tread on their lands. For a time they had been subdued, but in later years their numbers had grown, and they'd begun to expand their territory. Enraged at finding miners at the cliff bottoms, the Skree had attacked with a vengance, determined to drive these invaders from their land.
"…it's likely that there's a Skree Queen around here," Kydar finished explaining.
"Gee, thanks professor," Rakiv muttered quietly.
"I thought it was quite fascinating," Anicara whispered back.
"So did I," Alendra put in, not wanting Kydar to feel badly.
"Shh!" Rakiv demanded, peering through her telescope.
The quartet lay at the edge of a cliff, covered by loam, ferns and shrubbery. From their vantage point they peered down to the beaches, where the mining camp was clearly seen. All along the beach Skree warrior divisions patroled, keeping an eye on the miners who were trapped among their tents. Others seemed to be employing hit-and-run tactics on the camp, rushing close, loosing several arrows and then reatreating.
"Well, there's a lot of them," Rakiv admitted, "But fortunately for us, they're dumb."
"What do you mean?" Kydar blinked.
"See that there?" the ranger pointed towards a thick grouping of trees at the cliff's edge, several meters from where they lay, "That's a Skree nest, a big one. And there's another one right next to it, so I figure there's quite a few over there."
"Okay…" Alendra nodded, following her gaze.
"Now with that many warriors on the shore, I'll bet they left almost nothing to guard the nests," Rakiv said, "Which is our advantage."
"It is?" Anicara asked.
"Just listen!" Rakiv huffed, "Look, what we do is we sneak up, take out whatever gaurds they have, then Kydar burns the nests. All of 'em."
"Won't that bring the others running?" Kydar asked.
"Yup," Rakiv smiled.
"How's that good for us again?" Anicara asked skeptically.
"Because that's what they'll do, come running," Rakiv nodded, "Skree can't actually fly very high, so the only way up to us is through there," she pointed again to a place where the road the miners had carved made a sharp turn as it reached the cliff tops, "Which is where we make our stand."
"Sounds good so far… how's this work?" Kydar queried.
"Alendra and I will stand there to block the pass," Rakiv said, "While you two cast from above. You'll need to do it quick cause we won't be able to hold that many off for long."
"So we just keep hitting them as they come up the pass…" Anicara sumarized, finally understanding, "Sounds like a plan."
"Good," Rakiv nodded, "I'll go first. Follow in two mintues. Understood?"
"Sir, yes sir," Alendra and Anicara whispered out of habit.
"Uh, yes ma'am," Kydar nodded quickly.
Rakiv sighed and rolled her eyes as she crawled off into the underbrush. She was never the military type. Oh she was tough alright, and liked a good crew that knew when to follow orders and who the leader was. But the formality of it all, the 'yes sir''s, the salutes, the uniforms… too much restriction. In all honesty, she preferred working alone, a single, silent commando at one with nature and invisible in her element. Team mates were often necessities, but there were some things she just did best on her own. Quick, quiet kills was one of them.
There were four of them, three fledglings and one talon, marching in a circuit across the perimeter of their nesting grounds. The talon was leading the way while the other three loligagged behind him. This would be easy. Her crocodile gave a small hiss, its reptilian eyes narrowing at the enemies before them. She patted his back and then clicked her tongue, signaling him to attack. Butter slithered through the underbrush and out into the open, rushing towards the archers. Rising from her position, Rakiv drew her string and let fly, piercing the fledgling's cranium with her shaft.
The skree fell dead, as the other two paniced and whirled around. The skree talon turned to see what the cause of the ruckus was, just in time to screech a warning to its comrades. It was too late, as Butter attacked, chomping into the second fledgling's torso and bringing it to the ground. The third screamed and turned to shoot the crocodile, just as Rakiv loosed a second arrow into its heart. The talon rushed to his slain comrades, and Butter turned, snapping at the harpy warrior. The talon shrieked angrily and swung at the crocodile, narrowling missing Butter as he rolled away. Rakiv fired again and the harpy was forced to block, the arrow embedding in its shield. The crocodile siezed the opportunity, snapping its jaws onto the harpy's leg. The warrior screamed with pain and had raised its sword to strike at the very instant that Rakiv's arrow found a spot in its chest.
The ranger bounded from the underbrush and turned, waiting for her comrades to follow. A minute later they emerged, stepping over the dead harpies and regrouping with her before the nests.
"So far so good," Alendra smiled cheerfully.
"You're up Kydar," Rakiv nodded.
"Got it," the scribe responded.
He stepped forward, twirling his wand once as he took a deep breath and focused. The gem floating in front of his forehead flared to life with red flame as he raised one hand skywards.
"O, brightest flame of the highest heaven," he chanted deeply, as crimson runes and elemental symbols danced in the air around him, "Rain down thy fury upon mine enemies!"
Another deep breath, and he flung his hand forward as the flame symbols evaporated and rushed upwards.
"Fire Storm!" he commanded.
From on high came the first, small ember, a falling flame that burst when it struck the ground. It was followed by more, and soon they fell by the hundreds. Their collective roar was deafening as the flames pummeled his targets in the nests, the fire catching quickly and ravenously consuming the nesting grounds.
"That'll do it," Rakiv nodded, "Move to positions!"
The party took off at a sprint, hurrying to the cliff pass. From far below they could hear the cry of rage and despair that went up from the harpies as they saw their nests burn. Grass and dirt gave way to chalk and granite as Alendra and Rakiv skid to a stop at the point where the carved path made its sharp turn. Rakiv looked up, watching as Anicara and Kydar mounted the ridge.
"Here they come!" Kydar called.
And come they did. Dozens of harpy warriors stormed up the cliffside path, shrieking hatefully as they brandished their swords and drew their bows. Alendra raised her shield and gripped her spear as Rakiv notched an arrow and breathed deeply.
"Ladies first," Kydar offered, stepping back.
"Thank you," Anicara responded, giving him a playful smile.
The female elementalist raised her staff, pressing her free hand to her bossom as she closed her eyes and summoned her arcane energies. As with Kydar, runes and symbols rose to spiral around her, though these bore colors of blue as they spiraled around her body.
"Ye wintery waters of the ancient deeps," she incanted, "Encase my enemies in thy frozen grasp!"
She brought her fingers to her lips, kissing the digits before giving a broad sweep of her hand as she thrust her staff upwards.
"Deep Freeze!" she ordered.
White fog poured across the path, swirling through the harpy ranks. With startling immediacy the temperature dropped, the harpies finding themselves impeaded by thick sheafs of ice that had suddenly formed around their limbs. Though the tougher ones struggled forward, many dropped to their knees shivering, overcome by the bitter cold. Alendra and Rakiv attacked. The paragon dashed forward, leaping as she released a clear, melodic yet aggressive, cry from her vocal chords. Her spear point found the heart of a freezing harpy and she kicked it away as she made another thrust with her spear.
Upon hearing the note Rakiv felt heat course through her limbs, and as she drew back her string and released it, her arrow caught fire in mid-flight. The shaft ignited the harpy it struck on contact, and it screamed as it careened into its fellows in an attempt to put itself out. Rakiv opened fire, sending arrows whistling into the crowd as Alendra struck, kicked, butted and beat her way through the harpy horde. Above them they could feel another spike of magic, the heat identifying it as Kydar's cast, moments before they heard his voice.
"O burning traveler of the dark beyond," the scribe called, "Loose thy flame and sunder my foes!"
The sky above lit up red as he thrust a palm upwards towards the light.
"Meteor!" he shouted.
The clouds parted, blown aside as the massive chunk of burning rock plummeted from the sky. Alendra beat a hasty retreat as the still impaired harpies tried to limp away. With a cacophonous explosion the meteor impacted, destorying much of the harpy horde. For a while nothing could be seen on the path, but as soon as the smoke began to clear Alendra and Rakiv sprang forth. The surviving harpies regrouped and made their stand, but the battle was already over. From the clifftops Anicara and Kydar rained down spells, as Alendra and Rakiv made short work of the remaining skree. Driving her spear through the last harpy, Alendra grunted as she kicked it off her polearm, sending the body careening off the cliff to crash into the sand below. With the harpies destroyed the party gave a wild whoop of exhilaration, Rakiv laughing as the group regathered to congratulate one another.
"Alright, alright," Rakiv chuckled, "Enough celebration. We've still gotta get those miners outta there," she said, "Lets get down to that camp."
"Sir, yes sir!" they responded, Kydar chiming in this time.
"And stop calling me sir!" the ranger flailed in frustration.
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Foreminer Tonabanza sat at his tent entrance, counting his many woes. The operation was a week behind, with piled shipments simply sitting for want of transporation. Transport was, of course, impossible. The Skree had seen to that. Now they were besiged by Skree, who daily threw fire or shot arrows into their camp. They had battled the Skree tribe to a stalemate, but their supplies would not last long. To make matters worse, something bad had happened in the mines. A cave-in had led to men fleeing from horrific monsters in the dark, insect creatures that crawled beneath the earth. There was nowhere to run, the miners were effectively (and somewhat literally) stuck between a rock and a hard place.
He was skeptical therefore, when one of his miners rushed into the tent, claiming he had good news. Though he could not fathom what sort of good news it was, he rose from his tent to see the thing that had happened. Upon exiting his tent he surveyed the beach, and was indeed pleasently surprised. Not a single harpy in sight. What he did see were four figures approaching the camp, a pair of elementalists, a paragon and a ranger by the looks of them.
"Who's in charge around here?" the ranger asked.
"I am!" Tonabanza spoke up, "Foreminer Tonabanza, if you please."
"Ranger Rakiv Maelstrom," she introduced herself, "This is my party. We were sent by Kormir to uh… dig you guys out."
"Oh thank the Five," the foreminer gasped, as he took her hand and shook it vigourously, "Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!"
"Aaah! D-don't mention it!" Rakiv responded, her arm jerking with his hefty shakes.
"You… you mean to tell me that you killed all those harpies by yourselves?" he blinked incredulously.
"Uh… yeah?" she responded curiously.
A collective "ooo" went up from the crowd of miners gathered around them. Anicara fidgeted, not sure if she liked all the attention. Alendra simply smiled sweetly as Kydar adjusted his forehead jewel.
"Alright, let's get you guys outta here," Rakiv said with a wave of her arm.
"Uhm, well… we'd love too but…" Tonabanza wrung his hands, "We seem to have a bit of a mandragor problem."
"Oh, right… that," Rakiv sighed, leaning over and placing her hands on her knees tiredly, "Guess we gotta kill those too."
"Can't we just take the miners back to Champions?" Alendra asked curiously, "We've cleared the way."
"That's not the problem," Tonabanza shook his head, "These mandragor know our scent, and they've been picking us off whenever they can. This, what we're standing on here…" he stomped the dirt, "Is bedrock, too tough for them to tunnel through. As soon as we set foot on softer ground, they attack."
"And we'd have to walk across sand to get back to that trail…" Kydar summed up, "So we're stuck here until those things are dead."
"I'm afraid so," Tonabanza nodded with despair, "We were lucky we put the camp where we did."
"Well uh… I know you guys are anxious to get outta here but…" Rakiv sighed, straightening, "Ya mind if we sit down for a bit?"
"Oh! Oh no not at all!" Tonabanza exclaimed, realizing his manners had left him quite completely, "Uh please make yourselves comfortable. I'll have my men fetch you water and something to eat," he turned to his crew, "You lot! Get moving! Water for the Sunspears, and someone put whatever's left of the barreled pork on the fire!"
Stepping into a tent Rakiv sat on a canvas covered mound of hay and plopped backwards, spread eagling as she relaxed. The other three followed her in, grateful for the shade as they sat down. Alendra winced as she unstrapped her sandles and rubbed her sore feet while Anicara tipped her head forward and brushed sand from her light brown locks. Kydar simply sat and crossed his arms over his knees, eyes closing in silent meditation. Minutes later two of the men came in with large water flasks which they passed out to the party, all four glad to have a cool drink. Tonabanza stepped in and smiled magnanimously.
"Relax my friends. We are safe here and you may rest for as long as you like," he nodded, "We'll have a dinner prepared soon so don't worry about a thing."
"Thanks Tony," Rakiv responded, not moving from where she had collapsed, "We'll get to those Mandragor in a jiffy."
The foreminer nodded and smiled as he ducked out of the tent.
"So… what's our plan for those things?" Kydar asked.
"Kill 'em," Rakiv said simply.
"There's not really anything fancy we can do…" Alendra said thoughtfully, "Given the terrain. And I doubt there's really very many of them anyway."
"So freeze 'em, burn 'em, stab n' shoot 'em?" Anicara clarified.
"That's what I call a good plan," Rakiv responded, giving her approval with a lazy thumbs-up, "But later."
"Yes," Anicara nodded, leaning back herself, "Later."
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Evening fell over the beach, the night creeping in over the sparkling sand and crystal waves. Alendra had decided the girls were going to have a little pow-wow, and thus Kydar was expelled from the tent. He dusted himself off and gave a shake of his head as he strode away. Women. A moment later Butter too was pushed out, scooting out of the tent with as surprised a look on his snout as the crocodile could muster. He turned and hissed his indignation, but could do little else to express his displeasure. Kydar chuckled and turned away from the tent, the crocodile following lazily. There didn't seem to be anything better to do, and feeling less than prepared for a battle later, he began surveying their surroundings.
"Puttin' a plan together?" a miner asked as he walked up, carrying a lantern on the end of his pick-axe.
"Somethin' like that," Kydar nodded, "How far does this bedrock go?"
"Just about up to the quarry mouth," the miner said, "We dug this area out and moved the camp up so it'd be closer to the cavern opening."
"How exactly did this mandragor thing happen?" Kydar asked.
"I dunno really, wasn't in the caves myself at the time," the man said, "What I hear is we broke through a wall down there, busted in… and found a mandragor nest. Lost a few guys on the spot, but most managed to get out. Took us a while to figure out where we were safe. Tried to march outta here once, but those things tore us apart. Now we're stuck here on this little 'island', in a sea of dirt n' sand."
"Huh…" Kydar said, looking out across the beach, "So they got around behind you?"
"Yup," he said, as they turned, strolling the perimeter of the camp, "Couple guys got pretty badly mangled out here when we sent runners for help. I'm glad they made it through though."
"Yeah, else we might never got here in time," Kydar nodded, "So how many of these have you seen?"
"Well actually I've never seen one my…" he began, and stopped mid sentence as his foot sank, no longer on bedrock but into the sand, "Aw hell!"
The swear was to be his last word. With an ear rending screech the beast attacked, the sand exploding upwards as it surfaced. Faster than either human could move it locked its mandibles into the man's torso, sending blood spurting across Kydar's face as it lifted the man off the ground and dove back into the ground. The miner screamed a final time, before disappearing beneath the sand. Kydar stood for a moment, too shocked to move, when Butter's warning hiss got his attention. Across the beach small swells in the sand were moving rapidly towards the camp, growing larger as they approached.
"Mandragor…" Kydar whispered, and then turned as he ran shouting loudly in alarm.
"MAAANDRAGOOOOOOR!!!"
As he raced back to the tents the beach erupted behind him, long bodies of smooth alabaster chitin breaking forth and shrieking as they dashed across the sand. The miners rose at the cry, looking past the tents as the elementalist came barreling into camp, cursing having left his wand behind. The mandragor were not far behind, the small and agile imps rushing in first and leaping at the miners as the slithers wormed in behind. Rakiv broke from the tent first, drawing her bow and searching for a target.
"Kydar!" she called, tossing his wand to him, "How many?"
"Lots!" he called back, skidding to a stop as he reached the group, "They just exploded out of the sand! There's one really big one at the back of the group!"
"A queen!?" Tonabanza exclaimed, "Oh gods… a queen! We're doomed! We're doomed!"
"Shut up!" Rakiv snapped, slapping the man so hard he tumbled back into the tent, "Kydar you're with me, I'm gonna need your firepower for that queen. Anicara, Alendra, organize these miners and fight those bugs back!"
"Yes… ma'am!" they responded, before rushing off.
The miners panicing was brought to a lull as Alendra called them to order, and demanded that they form a line. A speedy cast from Anicara sent spikes of ice rolling across the ground, impaling and slowing the mandragor as they approached. Raising her spear high Alendra gave a battle cry and charged, the miners raising their tools as they rushed in behind her. As the mandragor and miners engaged, Rakiv and Kydar skirted the battle, making their way through the tents towards the back where they had a better view. At the rear of her forces stood the mandragor queen, brackish green slime oozing from beneath her chitin. She was escorted by three stoneflesh mandragor, who went before her as she approached the battlefield. Rakiv notched an arrow to the bow and took aim.
"As soon as this hits," she instructed, "Hit her with everthing you've got."
"On your mark," he nodded, beginning his cast.
Rakiv pulled back and let fly, just as the queen stepped onto the bedrock platform. The arrow pierced the monster's foot, and its barb head locked into the stone on the other side, effectively pinning the creature down.
"Now!" she cried.
"O bursting ball of brilliance burn…" the elementalist began.
In rapid succession the scribe brought down hell from the skies, fire pouring down upon the queen and her guard. The stoneflesh hunkered down, their earthern shells protecting them. The queen was another matter. With a terrible scream she burned, thrashing angrily as she fought to be free of the arrow that held her foot. As her chitin burned and melted away Rakiv opened fire, riddling the creature with arrow after arrow. Finally, with a powerful death screech, the queen collapsed, crashing to the ground and crushing one of her gaurds beneath her bulk. The corpse smouldered, throwing up black smoke into the night as the miners cheered and pressed their advantage. The remaining mandragor quailed at the sight of their queens death and beat a hasty retreat, diving back into the sand as the miners whooped with victory.
"Yes! We did it!" Foreminer Tonabanza cheered as he emerged from the tent, "We did it!"
"What does he mean 'we'?" Anicara commented grumpily, flicking a bit of gooey mandragor shell from her shoulder.
"Alright, alright!" Rakiv shouted over the din, "Now get outta here, before something worse happens to ya!"
"Oh thank you, thank you!" Tonabanza reached for her hand.
"Just… go!" Rakiv responded, quickly pulling her arm out of reach, "Get back to Champions."
"Actually," Alendra broke in, "Kormir asked me to speak with you Foreminer. You see, we're short on diggers for the excavation at Farhanur and we were wondering…"
"Yes!" Tonabanza responded.
"Really?" Alendra blinked.
"Of course!" he grinned, "It's the least we can do after you saved our lives! Don't worry, we'll head straight for Jokunar and Kormir will have all the diggers she needs!"
"Oh! Well… thank you very much!" Alendra smiled.
"Thank you!" he smiled, "And may gods favor you!"
"You as well," Alendra smiled, "Good bye!"
Tonabanza waved as the miners, eager to leave the valley, picked up their belongings and marched away. The party stood for awhile as they watched them walk away, and then turned to face one another.
"Job well done crew," Rakiv said, slinging her bow and dusting her hands, "Job well done."
"Two birds with one stone," Anicara commented
"Yes, Kormir will be happy to hear about this," Alendra nodded.
"Speaking of hearing about things…" Kydar looked up.
The girls turned around, catching sight of a figure running across the sand. Soon it came into view, a Sunspear runner carrying a message. Alendra greeted him as he trotted up, delivered his letter, and took off once more. The group gathered around as Alendra broke the seal and unrolled the scroll.
"Due to circumstances for which we have…" Alendra murmured as she read through the letter and blinked, "She wants us to meet her at the Astralarium."
"Who?" Anicara asked.
"Kormir," Rakiv clarified, "Does it say why?"
"She… wants us to fight General Morgahn!?" Alendra exclaimed.
"… 'The general has expressed interest in comparing Kournan might to Sunspear strength,'" Rakiv read, " 'And I am certain that we will not disappoint him. As our forces are largely engaged with corsairs, I request that Ranger Maelstrom and those under her command rendezvous with us at the Astralarium. I have no doubt that my old friend will not fail to impress and will appreciate the chance to catch up with a mutual aquaintence…'"
"You have a command now," Kydar pointed out.
"What is the general thinking?" Alendra protested, "We haven't time for skirmishes!"
"We're going," Rakiv said, "Or rather… I am. You can all do as you like."
"I still must speak with Kormir," Kydar stated.
"It looks like I've been reassigned," Anicara shrugged.
"Yeah," Alendra sighed, "I guess that goes for me too."
"So… we're followin' you," Kydar nodded.
"Fine," Rakiv shrugged, then chuckled, "Then fall in troops. To the Astralarium!"